Media release – Latrobe Council, 24 October 2024
LIFE-SIZED STATUE OF AUSTRALIA’S ONLY NAVAL VICTORIA CROSS RECIPIENT TO BE REVEALED
On 11 November each year, we stop to remember those who have served our nation but this Remembrance Day at Latrobe, Tasmania, will be even more significant, not only for the town but our nation’s defence history.
A life-sized statue of Edward ‘Teddy’ Sheean VC, the only member of the Royal Australian Navy to have been awarded a Victoria Cross of Australia, will be unveiled by the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AO, RAN. He will be joined in the reveal by a key proponent in the fight for the Victoria Cross of Australia awarding to Sheean – Garry Ivory – along with Mayor Peter Freshney of Latrobe Council.
Funded by the Tasmanian Government and Latrobe Council, the statue of Sheean VC was created by international sculptors, Gillie and Marc.
The statue design, led by Latrobe Council, included consultation with Sheean’s nephew Garry Ivory, the Executive of the Latrobe RSL&A and military uniform expert John Berryman. The design objective was not to present Sheean VC in a position of conflict but to merge two images of Sheean that captured his youthfulness, and at a time that our community would have seen him during his enlistment when he came home.
The statue project also includes two plaques that will be revealed by representatives of the Sheean family. One tells of the efforts of many, since the 1950’s, to have Sheean’s heroic actions appropriately recognised. The other acknowledges the hurdles that were finally overcome with the awarding of Victoria Cross of Australia in 2020.
This Service will conclude with the Chief of Navy formally presenting the Renaming Directive of TS Mersey to TS Sheean to their Commanding Officer. This honour includes the reveal of a new badge and life ring designed to connect future TS Sheean cadets, Ordinary Seaman Teddy Sheean, and his award of the Victoria Cross for Australia, ensuring the sacrifice of Sheean VC continues to be honoured by future generations.
The Remembrance Day Service at Latrobe on 11 November is open to all and will be held at the Sheean Memorial, 89 Gilbert Street, Latrobe, commencing at 10:25 am sharp.
Traffic will be detoured around Gilbert Street from 10:00 am. Until then, parking is available in Kings Park, Latrobe and thereafter in the Station Square carpark (accessible from Cotton Street). Limited seating will be available.
What is Sheean VC’s story?
Edward Sheean enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy on 21 April 1941.
After training in Hobart and Flinders Naval Depot at Western Port, Victoria, Sheean was posted in June 1942 to the newly commissioned Bathurst class corvette HMAS Armidale.
On 1 December 1942, in the Arafura Sea enroute to Timor, HMAS Armidale was attacked three times by Japanese bombers, fighters and a float plane. Armidale was hit twice by torpedoes and the order was given to abandon ship. Sheean immediately went to help launch a lifeboat but, seeing the aircraft strafing survivors in the water, decided to head to the aft Oerlikon gun.
We will never know what possessed Sheean VC to make that decision that ultimately resulted in his death, but it is known that he was not wounded when making that choice and could have made it onto the lifeboat where he stood a better chance of survival. Instead, he made his way to the aft Oerlikon gun, being wounded twice along the way.
That did not stop him from doing what he could to protect his shipmates. He strapped himself into the Oerlikon gun, an action guaranteeing that he would not survive, and started firing at the attacking aircraft. He is attributed to bringing down one and damaging two other aircraft. He continued firing even while the ship sank, pulling him under and drowning him.
Ordinary Seaman Sheean held the lowest rank on HMAS Armidale and was the youngest at just 18 years of age.
For this act of heroism, Sheean was Mentioned in Despatches ‘for bravery and devotion to duty when HMAS Armidale was lost.’ Over many years and after two hearings (2013 and 2019), Sheean’s ‘Mentioned in Despatches’ was finally upgraded to the Victoria Cross for Australia in 2020.
